The Archipelago Brewery was a Singaporean brewery owned by Heineken Asia Pacific (formerly Asia Pacific Breweries). It labelled itself as "Singapore's Craft Brewery".
In August 1931, with a capital of 5,250,000 guilders N.V. Archipel Brouwerij Compagnie (Archipelago Brewery Co.) was formed in Batavia (now known as Jakarta). The board was formed by the firm, Geo Wehry and Co. This company imported all by Beck brewery in Bremen to brew Koentji (key) beer. The first brewery was built in Batavia, it was made of steel framing, something in the Dutch Indies virtually not been done before. Wehry was a trading company, which started out in trading tobacco. Wehry was later merged with Borsumij and then merged into the still existing Hagemeyer that time in the Dutch East Indies was established.[1]
Archipelago opened a brewery on Alexandra Road in Singapore in November 1933, in art-deco buildings designed by Hienrich Rudolf Arbenz, where it produced Anchor Beer.[2][3][4]
During World War II, the British deemed the brewery to be enemy territory due to its German ties and seized it in 1941.[3] It was then bought by Malayan Breweries Ltd, which in 1990 was renamed Asia Pacific Breweries.[4] In 2013, Asia Pacific Breweries merged to become Heineken Asia Pacific.
Archipelago Brewery is currently Heineken Asia Pacific's craft brewing arm. The old Archipelago Brewery was re-commissioned on 24 July 2006, with international brewmaster, Fal Allen. Three variants of the Archipelago craft beers, namely Traveller's Wheat, Straits Pale and Traders Brown Ale were launched at Archipelago's flagship pub located on Circular Road in Singapore (now closed).[5]
The re-launch of Archipelago was consistent with Heineken Asia Pacific's objectives to add a new dimension to Singapore's beer industry; and to continue to grow its presence and stature locally.[6]
Archipelago Brewery produced boutique beers in small batches. In 2016, Archipelago Brewery brewed and sold 390,000 litres of beer. The Archipelago Brewery currently produces six permanent beers: Tropical Pale Ale, Singapore Blonde Ale, Belgian Wit, Summer IPA, Bohemian Lager and Irish Ale, in addition to limited edition or specialty beers.
In May 2024 Heineken Asia Pacific announced it would be closing the brewery at the end of June that year.[7]
The brewery created speciality brews which were sold as limited-release products, produced in much smaller quantities than the regular brews. Previous speciality brews included:
